Texas talkers: Cornyn, Cruz have spoken as much as 30 other senators — combined

A Texas on the Potomac analysis of senators’ floor speeches found that the two Texans spoke as frequently as the 30 least talkative senators combined.

Using data from the C-SPAN archives, we analyzed the number of days each senator had spoken on the Senate floor. Cornyn, the second-ranking Republican leader, finished third in the Senate with 23 days of floor debate. Cruz led all first-year senators with six days of debate.

On the flip side, it took all 30 senators who had spoken twice, once or zero times to equal the Texans’
29 day total.

One surprise finding: Freshman Democrat Elizabeth Warren, who was as ballyhooed among Democratic liberals as Cruz was among conservative Republicans, has been one of the quietest newcomers — at least on the Senate floor.